Frugal forensics: addressing the challenges of sustainable forensic science service provision

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ABSTRACT

Forensic science is an essential service in supporting criminal investigations and the justice system. It also has global humanitarian, peace and security dimensions making it a key factor in achieving several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Despite forensic science’s universal value, many jurisdictions are at a stark disadvantage in the continued development of forensic science with limitations in resourcing and technological capabilities. To address this challenge, we have proposed the concept of frugal forensics, which we have applied to latent fingermark detection. We argue that the sustainable provision of forensic science must become a critical element of future international discourse.

KEYWORDS:

• Forensic science services
• sustainable development
• UN SDGs
• fingermark detection
• quality

Acknowledgments

JTB is supported by a postgraduate scholarship from the Government of Seychelles and TL is supported by a Curtin ATN-South American Scholarship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Seychelles Government; Curtin ATN - South American Scholarship.